| Pelletier's Home Inspection Alfred Leo Pelletier CMI HI36 State of Florida Licensed Home Inspector HI36 Four-Point, Comprehensive, Wind Mitigation, Commercial, Pre-Listing Home Inspections Palm City Florida, 34990, Stuart Florida, Martin County Broward County, Palm Beach County, Orange County 772-240-0431 *Martin County / 954-330-2227 *Broward County SSN 681 BATFISH Nuclear Fast Attack Submarine Change the Course of History |
Commissioning The USS Batfish, (SSN-681 submarine, nuclear-powered) was a member of the Sturgeon class of nuclear fast attack submarines. It was the second U.S. Navy vessel, and second submarine, to be named after the fish. The first USS Batfish (SSN-310) served with distinction in World War II. On June 25, 1968, the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corp.’s Groton (Conn.) Shipyard received the contract to build the Batfish. Her keel was laid on Feb. 9, 1970; she was launched 20 months later, on Oct. 9, 1971. She joined the ranks of the Atlantic Fleet with her commissioning on Sept. 1, 1972, with Commander Richard E. Enkeboll in command of the Batfish’s original crew. Underway The Batfish made headlines for the wrong reasons early in her career. On Jan. 22, 1973, while leaving her homeport of Charleston, S.C., the Batfish ran aground and suffered damage to its bottom. After being freed by tugs, the Batfish returned to port for extensive repairs. For the better part of three decades, the Batfish tracked the activities of Soviet (and later Russian) submarines in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. Though most of her work was done without fanfare, one 1978 patrol known as “Operation Evening Star” has become legend in the submarine community. On March 17, 1978, the Batfish was operating 200 miles above the Arctic Circle when it detected a Yankee I – class Soviet ballistic missile submarine operating nearby. The Batfish began trailing the Soviet submarine, losing it for only twice for brief periods of time over the next 50 days. In the process, the Batfish collected troves of information on Soviet submarine operating methods. The Yankee never knew it had been detected; indeed, the Soviets had no idea the incident had occurred until the 1980s, when Navy Petty Officer John Walker sold them information detailing it. Decommissioning Based in Charleston for virtually her entire career, the Batfish was decommissioned on March 17, 1999 and was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. The Batfish entered the Navy’s Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Bermerton, Wash., and on Nov. 22, 2002, was declared scrapped. Characteristics of the USS Batfish Displacement: 4195 tons light, 4501 tons full, 306 tons dead Length: 89 m (292 ft) Beam: 9.7 m (32 ft) Draft: 8.8 m (29 ft) Propulsion: Westinghouse S5W reactor, S3G3 Modified Core Complement: 14 officers, 98 men Armament: four 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes Career: Ordered: June 25, 1968 Laid down: Feb. 9, 1970 Launched: Oct. 9, 1971 Commissioned: Sept. 1, 1972 Decommissioned: March 17, 1999 Stricken: March, 17 1999 Fate: submarine recycling Timeline: June 1968: USS Batfish ordered February 1970: Keel of USS Batfish laid October 1971: USS Batfish launched September 1972: USS Batfish commissioned January 1973: USS Batfish runs aground off of Charleston, S.C. March-May 1977: USS Batfish trails Soviet Yankee I-class submarine for 50 days without detection March 1999: USS Batfish decommissioned November 2002: USS Batfish scrapped |
Alfred Leo Pelletier 54618 Dept 243 Targeted all Major Components, Fabricated Piping Detail Assemblies, Installed Piping Assemblies
to all Major Components that are very crucial to the operating of the Engine Room of the SSN 681 BATFISH Nuclear Attack Submarine.
Sturgeon Class Attack Submarine: Laid down, 9 February 1970, at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corp., Groton, CT.;
Launched, 9 October 1971; Commissioned, USS Batfish (SSN-681), 5 May 1972; Decommissioned 2 November 1998; Struck from the
Naval Register, 17 March 1999; Final Disposition, laid up at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard awaiting disposal through the NPSSRP (Nuclear
Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA.
Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 3,640 t., Submerged: 4,640 t.; Length 302'; Beam 31' 8"; Draft 28' 8"; Speed, Surfaced 15 kts,
Submerged 25 kts; Depth limit 1,300'; Complement 108; Armament, four 21" torpedo tubes amidships aft of bow, MK 48 Torpedoes,
UUM-44A SUBROC, UGM-84A/C Harpoon, MK 57 deep water mines, MK 60 CAPTOR mines; Combat Sensors, Radar, BPS-14/15 surface
search, Sonars, BQQ-5 multi-function bow mounted, BQR-7 passive in submarines with BQQ-2, BQS-12 active 7, TB-16 or TB-23 towed
array, EW Systems, WLQ-4(V), WLR-4(V), WLR-9 ; Propulsion System, one S5W nuclear reactor, two steam turbines, one propeller, 15,000
shp.
Run Silent, Run Deep
In the Cold War's undersea cat and mouse game, the prize went to the submarine that could
By Thomas B. Allen, Smithsonian magazine, March 2001
The sonar room supervisor of the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine USS Batfish (SSN 681) picked up his microphone and punched
the intercom button for the officer of the deck a few feet away in the control room. "CONN, SONAR. SONAR CONTACT BEARING
ZERO-SIX-TWO. CLASSIFIED POSSIBLE SOVIET SUBMARINE!" The sonar listeners had just picked up the distinctive sounds of a Soviet
"Yankee" class ballistic missile submarine on a course toward the East Coast of the United States. The date of this undersea interception
was March 17, 1978. The place: about 200 miles above the Arctic Circle in the Norwegian Sea.
Concern over Soviet missile submarine patrols in areas that allowed them to target the eastern half of the United States had led to the Navy
order that sent Batfish to sea under the command of Comdr. Thomas W. Evans (now a retired rear admiral). She would seek to intercept a
Soviet missile submarine, follow her, and observe her operations throughout an entire patrol without being detected.
The 120-odd men who served in an attack submarine such as Batfish lived and worked in incredibly cramped conditions in a steel tube
about 300 feet long and 32 feet in beam. Though by no means small, these boats were dwarfed by the giant "boomers," or missile boats,
of both the American and Soviet navies.
Batfish and her sister submarines were quieter than their Soviet quarry. "Our task was to establish a trailing position well behind the
Yankee from which we could maintain tactical control," says Batfish skipper Evans. "Maintaining tactical control means you're in that zone
where you're close enough to hear the noises emitted by their machinery and propeller through all the other noises in the sea, but not too
far away where you can hear him and he can't hear you."
Batfish stayed with the Yankee for 50 days throughout the Soviet submarine's patrol following her through storms, fishing fleets, the
cacophony of oil exploration explosions, traveling 10,369 shadowing miles to record the Yankee's 8,871 miles. As far as is known, she was
never detected by the Soviet boat. Batfish surfaced off her home port of Charleston, South Carolina, on May 17 after 77 days submerged.
The Soviets did ultimately learn of our trailing missions through the treachery of American spies in our own navy. However, Rear Adm.
Sumner Shapiro, the director of Naval Intelligence in 1978, now retired, believes that such knowledge of our ability to track their submarines
anywhere in the world's oceans made the Soviets realize that their ballistic missile submarine force, which they counted on for reliable
second-strike capability, was not invulnerable. This realization could have been a major factor in bringing the Cold War to an end. If so, then
the U.S. submariners of Batfish and other boats of the Navy's Silent Service made history. Now at least part of their story can be told.
to all Major Components that are very crucial to the operating of the Engine Room of the SSN 681 BATFISH Nuclear Attack Submarine.
Sturgeon Class Attack Submarine: Laid down, 9 February 1970, at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corp., Groton, CT.;
Launched, 9 October 1971; Commissioned, USS Batfish (SSN-681), 5 May 1972; Decommissioned 2 November 1998; Struck from the
Naval Register, 17 March 1999; Final Disposition, laid up at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard awaiting disposal through the NPSSRP (Nuclear
Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA.
Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 3,640 t., Submerged: 4,640 t.; Length 302'; Beam 31' 8"; Draft 28' 8"; Speed, Surfaced 15 kts,
Submerged 25 kts; Depth limit 1,300'; Complement 108; Armament, four 21" torpedo tubes amidships aft of bow, MK 48 Torpedoes,
UUM-44A SUBROC, UGM-84A/C Harpoon, MK 57 deep water mines, MK 60 CAPTOR mines; Combat Sensors, Radar, BPS-14/15 surface
search, Sonars, BQQ-5 multi-function bow mounted, BQR-7 passive in submarines with BQQ-2, BQS-12 active 7, TB-16 or TB-23 towed
array, EW Systems, WLQ-4(V), WLR-4(V), WLR-9 ; Propulsion System, one S5W nuclear reactor, two steam turbines, one propeller, 15,000
shp.
Run Silent, Run Deep
In the Cold War's undersea cat and mouse game, the prize went to the submarine that could
By Thomas B. Allen, Smithsonian magazine, March 2001
The sonar room supervisor of the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine USS Batfish (SSN 681) picked up his microphone and punched
the intercom button for the officer of the deck a few feet away in the control room. "CONN, SONAR. SONAR CONTACT BEARING
ZERO-SIX-TWO. CLASSIFIED POSSIBLE SOVIET SUBMARINE!" The sonar listeners had just picked up the distinctive sounds of a Soviet
"Yankee" class ballistic missile submarine on a course toward the East Coast of the United States. The date of this undersea interception
was March 17, 1978. The place: about 200 miles above the Arctic Circle in the Norwegian Sea.
Concern over Soviet missile submarine patrols in areas that allowed them to target the eastern half of the United States had led to the Navy
order that sent Batfish to sea under the command of Comdr. Thomas W. Evans (now a retired rear admiral). She would seek to intercept a
Soviet missile submarine, follow her, and observe her operations throughout an entire patrol without being detected.
The 120-odd men who served in an attack submarine such as Batfish lived and worked in incredibly cramped conditions in a steel tube
about 300 feet long and 32 feet in beam. Though by no means small, these boats were dwarfed by the giant "boomers," or missile boats,
of both the American and Soviet navies.
Batfish and her sister submarines were quieter than their Soviet quarry. "Our task was to establish a trailing position well behind the
Yankee from which we could maintain tactical control," says Batfish skipper Evans. "Maintaining tactical control means you're in that zone
where you're close enough to hear the noises emitted by their machinery and propeller through all the other noises in the sea, but not too
far away where you can hear him and he can't hear you."
Batfish stayed with the Yankee for 50 days throughout the Soviet submarine's patrol following her through storms, fishing fleets, the
cacophony of oil exploration explosions, traveling 10,369 shadowing miles to record the Yankee's 8,871 miles. As far as is known, she was
never detected by the Soviet boat. Batfish surfaced off her home port of Charleston, South Carolina, on May 17 after 77 days submerged.
The Soviets did ultimately learn of our trailing missions through the treachery of American spies in our own navy. However, Rear Adm.
Sumner Shapiro, the director of Naval Intelligence in 1978, now retired, believes that such knowledge of our ability to track their submarines
anywhere in the world's oceans made the Soviets realize that their ballistic missile submarine force, which they counted on for reliable
second-strike capability, was not invulnerable. This realization could have been a major factor in bringing the Cold War to an end. If so, then
the U.S. submariners of Batfish and other boats of the Navy's Silent Service made history. Now at least part of their story can be told.
| Alfred Leo Pelletier Pipefitter Foreman-Supervisor Pipefitter 1st/class 54618 / Dept 243 (1968-1978) General Dynamics Electric Boat Division Groton Connecticut |
| Batfish SSN 681 History Patrols |
Good afternoon Mr. Pelletier, January 24, 2012
I wanted to let you know about an event taking place in Norfolk, 24 May 2012.
The local USSVI SubVets and WWII SubVets hold a memorial here in Norfolk on Memorial Day every year and one of the events that was
added to the ceremony a number of years ago is the induction of a post-WWII submarine into the 'Hall of Fame." Previous boats include
NAUTILUS, SKATE, TRITON and PARCHE.
USS BATFISH (SSN 681) was selected based on its 1978 mission which was declassified for the submarine centennial.
The mission, Operation Evening Star, involved tracking a Soviet ballistic missile submarine, undetected, for 55 days.
We'd like to get the word out to any BATFISH crew who might be interested in attending the ceremony at the Submarine Learning Facility on
Norfolk Naval Station, 24 May and would appreciate it if you could post something on your Web site.
If you do plan on attending, please let me know and I'll ensure you have access to the base for the ceremony.
Best regards,
John Donaldson
USS SKATE (SSN 578)/USS TUSK (SS 426)
NETWARCOM Public Affairs Officer
Desk (757) 417-6706 (DSN 537)
Fax (757) 492-8702
http://www.netwarcom.navy.mil
I wanted to let you know about an event taking place in Norfolk, 24 May 2012.
The local USSVI SubVets and WWII SubVets hold a memorial here in Norfolk on Memorial Day every year and one of the events that was
added to the ceremony a number of years ago is the induction of a post-WWII submarine into the 'Hall of Fame." Previous boats include
NAUTILUS, SKATE, TRITON and PARCHE.
USS BATFISH (SSN 681) was selected based on its 1978 mission which was declassified for the submarine centennial.
The mission, Operation Evening Star, involved tracking a Soviet ballistic missile submarine, undetected, for 55 days.
We'd like to get the word out to any BATFISH crew who might be interested in attending the ceremony at the Submarine Learning Facility on
Norfolk Naval Station, 24 May and would appreciate it if you could post something on your Web site.
If you do plan on attending, please let me know and I'll ensure you have access to the base for the ceremony.
Best regards,
John Donaldson
USS SKATE (SSN 578)/USS TUSK (SS 426)
NETWARCOM Public Affairs Officer
Desk (757) 417-6706 (DSN 537)
Fax (757) 492-8702
http://www.netwarcom.navy.mil
| SSN 681 BATFISH End of the Cold War |